The LEDVANCE Truck on the road

Even in a digital world, meeting clients in person and presenting our products to them remains a top priority. But how best to do this? And how to ensure that customers across Europe can learn more about what our company has to offer? Enter the LEDVANCE Truck.

The LEDVANCE Truck tour

Putting LEDVANCE on wheels provided an exciting opportunity – both for the company and for our customers. First hitting the road in 2016, a much larger roadshow got underway in France in January 2017. Over the seven subsequent months, the orange truck visited a total of 13 countries, stopping at events, fairs, wholesalers and offices en route. After departing from France, the truck headed to the Netherlands, England, Ireland, England again, then back to France, Sweden, Belgium, France (one final time!), Portugal, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and, finally, Hungary in July. On board the one-stop-shop was the entire LEDVANCE LED luminaire range, including downlights, spots, floodlights, linear and panel LEDs – for indoor and outdoor use, domestic and professional.

The LEDVANCE Truck driver

Taking the wheel for the 2017 leg was driver Roland Brüning. A man who runs a tight ship. Every night, without fail, he scrubbed and polished the truck – inside and out – making sure it looked spick and span for all its visitors. “If I’m representing a company, I want to do it well,” he tells us. He also introduced a set of strict rules: “No one was allowed to eat in the truck – no matter how cold it was outside!”

For all those curious about his route – where he’d come from and where he was going next – he pointed them to the 13 flags he had hung along the top of the truck’s windscreen. For Mr. Brüning, they served as mementos – a kind of record from his days on the road.

His tour highlight? The south. “Portugal was great; the people were so welcoming.” Elsewhere, it seems stereotypes prevailed: “At every stop we made in Italy there was so much food!” And of course, as with every long trip, there were a couple of mishaps along the way. When in Ireland, for example, someone drove into the back of the truck while it was parked in a gas station: “I had to wait for seven hours for the police to arrive!” he laughs. Luckily, everything was fine and the tour continued with a new story and a new flag.

The LEDVANCE Truck stops

While some stops coincided with light fairs such as the EXPOREXEL in Batalha, Portugal in May, others were a chance to visit partners or clients. While most truck guests were installers, sometimes designers or architects also came aboard. Whether at a packed industrial fair or a local wholesaler, people were always curious. “People asked questions or held lengthy professional conversations,” Mr. Brüning says. And regardless of where the truck was and who was visiting, there was one constant: “Everyone always wanted to play with and hold all the products,” he explains. In fact, due to the huge interest in the luminaires on show, it was necessary for him to always check that everything was safely secured again before heading off. “I didn’t want any breakages!”

For those not able to visit the truck, its progress was (and will continue to be) documented on social media. Using the hashtag #LEDVANCEtruck, regular updates were posted on the LEDVANCE Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels. From photos of the diverse tour locations, to maps announcing the upcoming stops – it was always possible to join LEDVANCE on the virtual road.

The future of the LEDVANCE Truck

After returning from Hungary in July, the truck and the driver took a summer break. But in true back-to-school fashion, it will be firing up its engines again in September – with new destinations, new energy, new products and hopefully some new flags! So stay tuned and keep an eye out for the LEDVANCE Truck.